Recent posts

In the past, the Wheel would be automated in the show's opening
and closing, even a few months into the now 20+ year-old electronic
puzzle board.

My initial theories were they were controlled by motors in the
Wheel's base, or even by a computer in the control room.

But there's another theory on my mind...wind tunnels. I know,
you're gonna ask, "John, how can a wind tunnel propel something as
heavy as the Wheel?" Well, you all know that wind tunnels propel
jet engines and helicopter propellers. If they can propel those,
they can probably propel anything that can spin...except
probably Price's Big Wheel (first off, it's a vertical wheel;
second, the spaces are seen from the front; and third, it's
a pretty heavy wheel compared to the Wheel).

About 14 years ago I watched an episode of Millionaire
where I saw a contestant get a question about how many gifts there
were in the song about the 12 Days of Christmas. He guessed 78, as
did I, but both of us were shocked to find out it was 364.

You're wondering how we both guessed 78: Simple, the first line
in each verse (i.e. the partridge on the first day, turtle doves on
the second, etc.).

Now, the question is: how in the world was it 364, and where did
we go wrong? Comment below. Gameshowguy2000 (talk) 04:28, December
21, 2018 (UTC)

Recently, I happened to find this video of a then 21-year-old
(now 27, judging from the upload's date) getting a visit from
Santa.

However, as much as I, and other autistic Santa-believers wanted
the conversation about the video to be peaceful, some person who
was very anti-autistic, started bashing the person in the video,
the autistic people commenting in it, and myself. Needless to say,
I was not happy.

Now, you know that I and my fellow members William, Brandon, as
well as Video Archivist and admin Daniel are all autistic as well
as Santa believers. And we all know one thing: It's one thing to
believe in Santa. It's one thing not to believe in Santa.
But it's another to bash those who do believe.

OK, I am glad to announce that I am officially a member of the
Frozen watchers club (instead of the Wheel Watchers
Club; though honestly, next time they go to WDW, they could use the
characters/actors to introduce Pat and Vanna; wouldn't hurt, would
it?).

For those who don't know, it's based on the Hans Christen
Anderson tale The Snow Queen. But, given that most
everyone's seen the movie to this point, I'll just go straight to
my review.

It's a great movie, and like everyone else who finishes watching
it the first time, you'll won't be able to let go (no pun intended)
of "Let It Go". And there's a reprise version of the movie song for
the stage show at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. In
fact, every time I bring it up at work, some of my co-…

If you might not know already, users like myself, Daniel,
Brandon, and William are autistic.

I want to bring attention to something that's been crossing my
mind--this so-called "cure" for it.

There is no cure. NO CURE AT ALL!

I've been reading a lot about how the organization "Autism
Speaks" is literally bashing anyone who's autistic. And if you
think that's bad, I read a comment on a YouTube video that
suggests autistic people "need to be put in a zoo."

Well, excuse me! Just because Daniel, Brandon, William, and I
are autistic doesn't mean we deserve to be put in a zoo. Just
because we're autistic, doesn't mean we don't know right from
wrong. With William running GS Wiki and Daniel running this
Wiki, and even Brandon now running the Coca-Cola Wiki,…

Everyone remembers a decade ago when Deal or No Deal came
to the US, which, like Millionaire became an international
hit.

Now, everyone also knows that it takes luck, guts, and skill to
win big money...and the object is simple: pick a case and hope it
contains the big prize.

But that's too easy--so in a series of rounds, you eliminate
cases hoping your big prize case still remains in play. Every so
often, a mysterious Banker calls the host via telephone and offers
you a guaranteed cash prize to sell your case and stop your game
and stop you from going home with as much money as possible. Enter
the title question, "DEAL OR NO DEAL?"

Eliminate big amounts, offers go down; eliminate small amounts,
offers go up. But when it comes to the offers, this …

As many of you know, if you're a regular visitor of this Wiki,
there's an article about slot machines based on Wheel.
And...believe it or not, some of those can even be found on
machines with names that have been casino mainstays for years--and
I'm talking about names such as Red White & Blue and
Double Diamond.

But whether it's the regular mechanical slot machine, or the
computerized type (also with the reels, but on a video screen that
switches in case you make it to a bonus round), every machine has a
Max Bet function. You hit that button, and per the function, you
bet the max number of coins, and if you hit a special combo, you
trigger a bonus round for more money. But that's the only way you
can trigger the bonus round...and it'll also inc…

I felt the need to get another something off my chest, and it
has to do with something that just about every game show has:
Flashing lights.

Everyone knows that flashing lights are bound to cause epileptic
symptoms such as seizures. But, as I'm sure many of us game show
fans are aware, it's about how bright the lights are, as well as
the speed of their flashing.

Take Wheel. When the show first debuted, the Wheel's base
lights and the puzzleboard's lights flashed quickly, but not really
really quickly...just in a chase pattern. And if you notice, those
lights weren't that bright. By the time the syndicated version's
8th season premiere (and thus carrying over to Goen as a result),
on both counts, the lights were a tad brighter, but not too
bri…

As of this post, we are now one week out from Christmas Eve,
which of course, means Santa's annual trip around the world. He has
worked hard with the elves to ensure that the gifts we ask him for
(via e-mail or snail mail; we're too old to sit on his lap, but
never to write; and yes, even the North Pole has computers for his
lists and all the letters he gets), and we've worked hard to get on
his Nice list.

But, oh, the debate on if there is indeed a real Santa.
Everyone's gonna be looking at me like, "Oh John, those mall Santas
aren't real." Duh, of course not. About this time 30 years ago, the
syndicated Card Sharks with Bill Rafferty invited 10
mall/department store Santas to be a part of the audience survey
during Christmas Week 1986. Per…

After watching this Inside Edition video, the time has come for
me to get this issue off my chest, an issue that for sure is going
to be the subject of debate, regardless of how long I stick around
on this planet.

In the video you can see a 5-year old boy being paddled by the
school principal (or about to be) for his constant misbehavior and
(surprise, surprise), 18 UNEXCUSED ABSENCES! In the room is
the boy's mother, who after seeing the video, was horrified. She
was actually arrested for the boy's truancy. It was either that, or
have him get paddled.

The boy constantly bawling throughout wants to be spared, but
apparently the principal doesn't care. The school, in case, you're
wondering, is in Georgia, one of a few states that actually
legal…

Most of us are die-hard Pokemon fans...especially that in a
couple years, it will mark TWO DECADES since Pokemon hit the
airwaves in North America, and then became a worldwide hit.

From games to cards (yes, they still have those) to the new
Pokemon Go app, we fans are still "Catching 'em all!".

However, that aside, we're going to focus on just the app (which
I don't have). It has come to a few picky people's attention that
the app is too dangerous. And by dangerous, I mean, deaths,
injuries...and in some cases, vandalism. I mean, really?
VANDALISM?!

I have a piece of advice from those of you: PLEASE BE CAREFUL! I
know you're die-hard fans like myself, but if you're going to catch
a Pokemon, do it carefully! Watch some of the older TV shows to
s…

This month marks 8 years since the movie adaptation of Mamma
Mia! came out in theaters, but I first saw it on DVD in 2009
when my mom brought home a copy from a friend of hers, and then I
bought a copy myself as a gift for my 30th birthday in 2013. Then
later for Christmas 2013, I bought the soundtrack for both the
movie and the musical, then the 2-Disc Special Edition for
my 31st birthday in 2014 (it includes a bonus DVD with more
bonus material), and then for Christmas 2014 I bought a copy of a
separate Special Bonus Disc with even more bonus material!
(Apparently, the movie's great, the bonus material is even better).
I'll review the bonus stuff at a later date. Right now, I shall
review the movie and the musical from which it is based.

I haven't done a book review yet, but I decided to do one after
I read some of the reviews on Amazon (where I bought it).

This book, like most books about game shows in general (i.e.
not centered on any one particular show), talks about game
shows in general, and appropriately, starts with the history of
game shows (I only bought it since I found it interesting...though
at the same time you could say I bought it to join in Buzzr's
celebration of 75 years of game shows.

It profiles a few shows, and even goes into detail about the
quiz show scandals (this was profiled in the 1994 movie "Quiz Show"
with the "Twenty-One" scandal). And even better, it even talks
about sets and sounds, and even has an appendix of every game show
in existence.

The last time I made a DVD Game review it was for Who Wants
to Be a Millionaire, which I recently got in the mail.

This time, I'd like to do a DVD Game review for Deal or No
Deal. Here goes!

As usual, you got 26 cases holding 26 money amounts all
randomized by computer (the show does this by third party). We
don't know which amount sits in one case, but we do know
that in one case sits $1 million, all the way down to a measly
penny.

Despite the cover photo showing a Million Dollar Mission game in
progress (if you look closely, $750,000 is replaced by $1M, and in
its usual place is $2M), this game is played as if this were just a
regular game..no Million Dollar Mission or any other special games.
(FYI, for those who kept up with the prime-time sho…

Seeing as I just got this in the mail, and I just started
playing with it, I decided to go ahead and do a review on it.

The game includes, besides the DVD and an instruction manual, 24
game cards: 16 answer cards (for the four choices to each
question), 4 lifeline cards, and 4 "Walk Away" cards. This means up
to 4 players can play, but you must have a minimum of 2.

The game play mirrors that of Seasons 3-6, with the $25,000
milestone at Question 10, $50,000 at Question 11, and $100,000 at
Question 12, with no Switch the Question lifeline as was on the
show.

However, there are time limits to answer the questions: 20
seconds for the first 5, 25 for the second 5, and 30 for the final
5.

In the wake of the recent shootings in Orlando, this is where
the post's title comes in. You think--"John, people should have the
right to do it, right? Isn't this a free country?"

Well, sort of. Remember the proverb of not yelling "Fire!" in a
crowded theater? See, that's where the part about limits on free
speech comes in.

Let me give you some examples of how free speech in a way is
limited.

1. Kobe Bryant, 2011--we remember his anti-gay views from the
playoffs 5 years ago, when my Dallas Mavericks won the whole thing.
But when his LA Lakers were in the playoffs, he began tweeting his
anti-gay views, and that got him fined $100,000.

Everyone remembers a decade ago when Deal or No Deal came
to the US, which, like Millionaire became an international
hit.

Now, everyone also knows that it takes luck, guts, and skill to
win big money...and the object is simple: pick a case and hope it
contains the big prize.

But that's too easy--so in a series of rounds, you eliminate
cases hoping your big prize case still remains in play. Every so
often, a mysterious Banker calls the host via telephone and offers
you a guaranteed cash prize to sell your case and stop your game
and stop you from going home with as much money as possible. Enter
the title question, "DEAL OR NO DEAL?"

Eliminate big amounts, offers go down; eliminate small amounts,
offers go up. But when it comes to the offers, this …

The reason it's called the "Strangest Jeopardy! Ending Ever", is
because the second player had trouble with his electronic pen
and/or pad, so he had to use his index card and marker to write
down his response.

Because of that, he and the champion were allowed to return the
next day.

Some of them were calling him out for cheating because of this.
Well, this is where the title of this post comes in:

While we're in the 21st century, and technology has been
around for who knows how long, we can't rely on it for our
problem-solving and why we need to have back-up plans.

This is an example--when the equipment malfunctions, as the
Jeopardy! DVD explains, each player has an index card and a marker
to write the…

You guys thought I was done, right? WRONG. Hopefully,
this is the last time I will have to rant about something like
this.

In the last post (Part 1, hence Part 2 in this post's title), I
talked about how one user called me "butt-hurt" because my opinion
was different from his, and I called him out saying as different
from me as his opinion was, it was stupid. It sounded
stupid, therefore it was stupid.

Now, I'd like to focus on another video of the Joseph vs. Ramsay
scenario.

There, the user said he found Ramsay to be a "cowardly bully".
And I explained to him, that the way Ramsay does things is so he
wants chefs to succeed.

He said, "Yes I do think he's a cowardly bully. He shouts and
swears because he's a yob not because he has to.

I know some of you reading this are looking at the title and
saying, "Really, John? Really?" Yes, really.

Recently, I found a video of the infamous fight scene between
Joseph and Chef Ramsay from Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen (you know,
the one where Joseph was asked "First nominee and why?" and he
couldn't even answer that).

One commentator said he hoped Joseph broke Ramsay's nose, and
even said he himself would hire Joseph. I said that's the stupidest
thing he's ever said, and hiring Joseph would make his future
restaurant (and restaurant career) a disaster, finances and
customer base going down the drain.

So he got back at me and said, "Why are you so butt-hurt if
people have different opinions??"

Whether you like it New York thin crust or Chicago deep-dish,
whether you like it with mozzarella or cheddar cheese, and whether
you like it with pepperoni or sausage, we all love our pizza.

The point of this post is whether one can classify it as
healthy. Some would say yes because of the many benefits you can
get from each part: Fiber from your crust, protein from your meats
(like the ones mentioned), calcium from your cheese (like the ones
mentioned), and other vitamins from the vegetables like onions and
peppers and mushrooms.

I sorta lean that way. Some may say it's full of fat, because it
needs oil to give flavor to the pizza.

So, long story short, what do you think? Post your two cents
below. Gameshowguy2000 (talk) 01:09, March 25, 201…

If some of you are lucky enough to get a double-dose of
Jeopardy! in your neck of the woods (and I am happy for you if you
do), that means you not only get the first-run for the current
season, but also the repeat from the previous season.

Today, we got to see Kristin Sausville's solo Final Jeopardy!
from March 12, 2015. For those who don't know, she is the wife of
2011 Tournament of Champions semifinalist and Season 28 contestant
Justin Sausville, who had won $134,000 in 6 games, plus $2,000 for
his second-place finish in game 7, for a total of $136,000. Kristin
herself had won $24,801 as the new champ the previous day.

When all was said and done in Double Jeopardy!, she ended the
round with $8,400 while her two challengers ended the round …

10 years ago, February 2006, the Coca-Cola company decided it
was time to launch a loyalty program for its consumers called My
Coke Rewards. Similar to frequent-flyer mile programs, consumers
could enter codes found on caps or boxes to earn points which
could, in turn, be used to redeem prizes or be used for sweepstakes
entries.

Of course, there was criticism of the program for causing people
to drink tons of pop just to get the codes for the points for the
prizes. But, since then, that criticism has died down, and has
given birth to new criticism for the new program one year ago:

It was decided that there be a Status level program added, with
levels of Bronze, Silver, and Gold (like medals, of course). Each
time you played a YouTube video, …

Halfway through last year, one of my Facebook friends talked
with me on IM about cable game shows not being made to give away
big money. He told me that the budgets were small, citing examples
like Win Ben Stein's Money (Comedy Central), Whammy! (GSN),
2-Minute Drill (ESPN), Supermarket Sweep (Lifetime/PAX) and Cash
Cab (Discovery).

I gave him an example of one big money cable game show, that
being GSN's Russian Roulette, which offered a top prize of
$100,000...just like Wheel (except now it has the Million Dollar
Wedge, and there are only 3 winners there, just like there were 3
winners of the $100K Russian Roulette...one of whom beat the odds
and survived 5 out of 6 drop zones!). But even then, he told me
that there was a small budget, whic…

I've always thought it was about the former--due to the bulk of
the merchandise being Santas, snowmen, and reindeer. Heck, I still
have my letters from Santa. And of course, let's not forget about
the songs about them, too. I've always thought that there were more
songs about Santa, snowmen, and reindeer, than Jesus' birth.

But my sister thinks otherwise. She tells me that without Jesus,
there'd be no Santa.

I will now open it to you guys for thoughts. Gameshowguy2000
(talk) 17:25, December 24, 2015 (UTC)

That includes the long-running NORAD tracker, which has been
around for 60--count 'em--SIXTY YEARS!

The Google tracker has been around for a few years, but is just
as reliable.

There are others around there as well, but nothing can beat
those two! They are as accurate as can be.

So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, people of all ages--if
those trackers tell you that Santa's next stop is your house, you
know what that means--GET IN BED ASAP! If he finds even one
light on (night lights not included), he will fly past, and will
not come around again unless all lights are out and everyone's
snoozing. In the words of "Here Comes Santa Claus"--JUMP IN BED
AND COVER UP YOUR HEAD, 'CAUSE SANTA CLAUS COMES TONIGHT!

As I was reading BDE1982's latest blog over at the Game Shows
Wiki, something came to my mind--in addition to Grinches, Scrooges,
and non-believers of ol' St. Nick; there are those non-believers
also saying he doesn't exist.

It makes me so sick to my stomach when someone tries this. OK, I
don't care if you do believe in Santa, as I am cool and fine with
that. I don't care if you don't believe in him, as I am cool
and fine with that as well. However, I DO CARE IF YOU TRY TO
TELL ME HE'S FAKE/IS NOT REAL/IS A LIE/DOESN'T EXIST, OR THE EVER
POPU…

Whenever you see this commercial, you know the holiday season
has just begun. This campaign debuted 20--count 'em--TWENTY
years ago this month.

Now you're thinking, "John, it's been 'Holidays are Coming' for
a long time; where the heck did 'Santa Packs are Coming' come
from?" Well, let me tell you.

In 1995, when the campaign debuted, Americans got the ultimate
item to add to their Coke can collection, when the company
introduced Santa Packs. Each can in the pack came with one of 4
distinctive designs, all based off of the illustration by Michigan
artist Haddon Sundblom. This would also carry over to their classic
contour bottles, both plastic and glass.

This would repeat in 1996, but starting in 1997, they decided to
follow suit with the other…

In 2006, to show how much it appreciates its consumers,
Coca-Cola launched My Coke Rewards, a rewards program similar to
those frequent-flyer mile airline programs we are familiar with.
Here, users can enter codes from caps and box tops of fridge packs
(12, 20, and 24) for points which they can redeem for prizes. Here
is a list of those brands as well as the points you get.

Some people may not know this, but that Coca-Cola Santa Claus
that has graced many a bottle and can during the Christmas season
was drawn by Michigan artist Haddon Sumblom.

Before those images took place, Coke began using Santa in its
ads since the 1920's; heck, in 1930, artist Fred Mizen painted a
department-store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke
(preferably during his break). The ad featured the world's largest
soda fountain, which was located in the department store Famous
Barr Co. in St. Louis, Missouri. Mizen's painting was used in print
ads that Christmas season, appearing in The Saturday Evening Post
in December 1930.

In 1931, that all changed. The agency that came up with the
famous Coke Santa image wanted someone to come u…

The above word in quotes, a word you'll find in many an SAT
vocabulary, is defined as someone who knows everything.

The reason for the title is pretty obvious: We all watched when
John Carpenter went on Millionaire in November 1999 and
became the first person to win the top prize (remember in August
1999, Michael Shutterly was the first to *see* the million-dollar
question, but chose to walk with $500,000).

He made it through the first 14 questions without a lifeline,
and even Regis' words put it best: "You didn't need those stinkin'
Lifelines, did you?" However, like Shutterly before him, and
countless others after, anyone who saw the 15th and final question
could walk away with $500,000 before saying "final answer";
realizing that a miss wou…

You think this is impossible, right? WRONG. When I got
the Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune PC games (Sony
Imagesoft, 1994), I learned something.

On the back of the box for each game, it says the minimum
requirements involved Windows 3.1 *or higher* (and by that, that
means Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 9, etc.; you get the
drift). Each game has QuickTime software installed. So you think
that with the latest QuickTime Player on your computer you'd be
able to install and play the game with ease, right?
WRONG.

I experimented with this once on another computer ...and it says
it could not function. So when I got yet another computer, and
here's what I did: I installed both games first before
installing the QuickTime Player that you could downlo…

After thinking about this for quite sometime, and after being a
member of The Monopoly Wiki for quite sometime, I've decided to do
it now, especially in honor of the game's 80th anniversary (and for
the obvious reason, every person has had at least one item related
to the game in their possession): A blog post about what Monopoly
items I or any of my family members have.

1976 Board Game--owned by my sister; I didn't really start
playing the board game until about well, 20 years ago

Monopoly: Hand-Held Electronic Game--my top favorite, received
in 2012 for my 29th birthday; reason being that I love the talking
AI opponents and I love the speech that goes with it

4 years ago, we watched as Jeopardy! gave us the IBM
Challenge. 4 years prior, Dave Ferrucci and his team of IBM
engineers were working on a new sophisticated computer system named
"Watson", about 10 years after they saw "Deep Blue" beat the
reigning chess champion Garry Kasparov.

We watched as Watson bested Jeopardy! juggernauts Ken
Jennings and Brad Rutter to take a million dollar jackpot. Ken got
$300,000 and Brad got $200,000.

This proved that computers can be smarter than humans.

Here's the thing: When we fans play our game show video games
against the "Watsons" (I'll use that term for AI game show players
from now on, since Watson is our first and only AI game show
contestant), how are we able to best the "Watsons" there, yet
Watson himself…

Most of us are die-hard fans of Jeopardy!. Whether it's
Ken Jennings and other notable champions, or the doubling of the
cash and the addition of the Clue Crew in mid-Season 18, or the
jettisoning of the 5-day limit in Season 20, people have been abuzz
about this game of answers and questions.

But it's that one thing about the show that makes it unique from
other quiz shows. When Merv Griffin wanted to create a quiz show,
his wife Julann suggested he do one where the contestants are given
the answers, but Merv himself was afraid that would turn into a
copy-cat of shows such as The $64,000 Question or Twenty
One. What she really meant was: give the answers in front of
everyone and have them come up with the questions. Enter one
of the most popula…

With 2 weeks to go before the Big Day, I'd decided I needed to
get this off my chest, once and for all.

A lot of people have still been at the lame old same old
argument that Santa is a lie, and that the parents are lying to
their kids about Jolly Old St. Nick.

Well, I have a message for those who are continuing to insist
that Santa is a fake, and that Virginia O'Hanlon's letter to the
New York Sun is a myth. Well, that myth has been BUSTED! For proof,
here's a link to the letter. For those who don't believe it, well,
read it and WEEP (because you've lost).

Also, if Santa didn't exist, NORAD Tracks Santa WOULD NOT EXIST,
WOULD IT?!

And for further proof, watch Miracle on 34th Street both
the 1947 B/W original, and the 1994 color revival. The pl…

In this final installment on my thoughts on game show questions,
I decided it'd be better to take a more thorough approach: Whether
questions should be categorized or not.

Non-categorized: On certain game shows, such as "Cash Cab", you
don't know what category the questions come in. So you have to be
ready for whatever questions get thrown away. This is the downside
here of having these kinds of questions. The only upside is showing
how broad a knowledge you've got. But another downside is that you
end up with questions in categories you know very little about.

Categorized: This is the better choice, IMO. When questions are
grouped into categories, you can choose which one you think you
have the best knowledge of. Examples of this include "J…

In the last post, I talked about how game show questions are NOT
"useless trivia" as some idiots think (as I stated, most of it is
stuff learned in school). In this post, I'd like to focus on
whether they're better as open-ended or multiple-choice (which,
despite some speech experts suggesting; isn't always a "subjective
test"...Millionaire's questions are an example, and you'll see why
in a minute).

Open-ended: This means that any answer that comes to mind can be
said. The downside to these is that someone might end up giving a
stupid answer to the question...but on the upside, they'll make it
to the blooper reels, so the contestant can see for themselves just
how dumb they were when they said it. Another downside is when you
have limited …

Ever get the feeling, as a game show fan, when someone tells you
that game shows are a waste of time or that the questions they ask
are "useless trivia"? Believe me, as a game show fan, it pisses me
off. And I'm sure it pisses a lot of the game show fan community
off as well.

Let me tell you this: The questions they ask are NOT "useless
trivia" in any way, shape, or form. In fact, the bulk of the
questions we see namely have to deal with stuff we learned in
school (and how appropriate I bring this up, as we are on the dawn
of another school year).

And speaking of school and game shows, most of us remember "Are
You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?". It was a game show alright, but it
was a game show meant to spook us of our grade school past. The
…

So far, you've heard me document three Wheel moments that
had people shouting "SCANDAL!" all over the Internet: The
one-letter solve from Season 28, and the two Million-Dollar
missolves from this season (Season 31).

You have also heard me document the game show moment that
defined all game show moments: Michael Larson breaking the bank on
Press Your Luck and winning $110,237 in cash and prizes by
memorizing the patterns on the Big Board...and picking up just one
Whammy in the process.

Now, I am about to document one that probably had a handful of
people saying that word: Hal Shear, the Joker's Wild
contestant whose lucky suit made him a name among game show fans.
Some might even think he was the Ken Jennings of The Joker's
Wild, because prior to Jeo…

30 years ago, game show history was made on CBS' Press Your
Luck, hosted by Peter Tomarken. Having been on the air for
quite some time, viewers were testing their knowledge with the
questions that could earn players 3 spins for a correct buzz-in
answer, or 1 spin for a correct multiple-choice answer. Those spins
could then be turned into big bucks on the Big Board, which was
loaded with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes;
some of which offered additional spins. As with every game show
there was the element of risk: the dreaded Whammy, which, in
various ways, would come out and take away a player's loot; with 4
of them eliminating them from the game. If a player didn't want to
risk losing their money/prizes to a Whammy, they…

This is something I've been pondering for a long time. We all
saw what happened in February 2011 when IBM's Watson went up
against Jeopardy! juggernauts Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter
(who faced each other in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions
and just recently in the Battle of the Decades, in which Brad won
both) and won, in the battle of man vs. machine (similar to all the
game show video games on the market, past and present; if you have
1 human player, the other 2 spots will be filled by AI
players).

Now, I'm thinking that Wheel should try one of its own.
They could do a replication of the April Fool's 1997 episode, with
Alex and Lesly hosting, and Pat and Vanna playing; however, they
will also make use of the third spot and fill it w…

I had thought about writing about this for quite some time, and
that time has finally arrived.

Yesterday marked a decade since Rich Fields became announcer of
The Price Is Right. After Rod Roddy's death, lots of other
candidates auditioned, including game show legends Randy West and
Burton Richardson. There were even some unfamiliar names such as
Roger Rose (of ABC O&O WLS-TV in Chicago), Daniel Rosen (he did
the Live version at the time), Don Bishop, Art Sanders, Jim
Thornton (chosen to succeed the late Charlie O'Donnell on Wheel
of Fortune), and Fields himself (at the time, he was a TV
weatherman, which he has returned to since his departure from
Price).

Now, you're asking, what factors are there when you choose a
successor after a longtime a…

We all saw last week's episode of Dr. Phil as well as the
season premiere of Kitchen Nightmares, featuring everyone's
most despised restaurant owners--Amy and Samy Bouglazo of Amy's
Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona.

On Dr. Phil, we see that the restaurant catered to his
staff and Dr. Phil himself said they actually liked the food
(whether that is true or not remains to be seen; given the backlash
the couple suffered from Facebookers like myself; yes, I will NOT
eat at any restaurant that DOES NOT SERVE FRESH FOOD OR STEALS FROM
OTHERS!). Dr. Phil himself also invited a blogger who criticized a
restaurant, as well as a PR expert who knows how to deal with this
kind of negative publicity and feedback. Even Dr. Phil said the
couple had to lea…

Today I am unveiling the $ale of the Century Video Archive. It
is my hope to document and include links to all episodes of $ale of
the Century (and Temptation) of both domestic and international
versions of the show. The video archive in it's base form so far
covers all Daytime and Syndicated episodes of the U.S. version that
I've been able to find online. Eventually it will expand to include
versions across the globe! I hope you will help as we create an
archive of Sale of the Century and Temptation episodes for
everyone's viewing pleasure!